Lost in Beijing: Capitalist Pigs, Chinese Style

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****½

If I were to tell you the plot of Lost in Beijing, along with its various twists and shocks (don't worry, I won't), you would tell me that this was soap opera worthy of Dynasty or the Lifetime channel. But because the film takes places in contemporary China, with its imploding social, economic, cultural and political morass, what happens here seems not only likely but possibly even typical. As directed and co-written (with Li Fang) by Yu Li (Fish and Elephant), the movie simply bubbles along from scene to scene so quickly and deftly that, even if you question something, you'll end up going with it because of the momentum--and the remarkably fine performances from the four actors who make up one of the unhappier quartets in memory.

Hollywood Dreams

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***½

If you're already a fan of the films of Henry Jaglom, you'll need no further encouragement to see his latest arrival on DVD. If not, or if you're lukewarm, or know nothing of this fellow's rather "special" oeuvre, then Hollywood Dreams is probably as good a place as any to begin. Unlike some of his earlier work—Eating, Babyfever, Going Shopping (which deal with pretty much exactly what their titles suggest), or other films like Someone to Love, Déjà Vu and Always, in which love and relationships are front and center (whatever else they're about, Jaglom's movies are all always about love and relationships)--his latest is perfectly conceived and calibrated to demonstrate his "take" on the film's title.

We're in that territory where dreams of stardom collide with dreams of love and a lasting relationship. But nobody covers this territory in quite the manner of Mr. Jaglom. Once again, he overdoes just about everything, as well as allowing his cast to do the same. (If you've ever experienced the feeling of wanting to equip Karen Black with a good set of emotional and verbal brakes, you'll feel it doubly here.) Funny thing is, in going overboard, both he and his cast manage to wrest odd truth from this collision of ambition, romance, humor, coincidence and silliness.

The Pied Piper of Hutzovina

Reviewer: Maria Komodore
Rating (out of 5): ****

According to her own commentary on this new DVD, Czech filmmaker Pavla Fleischer decided to make The Pied Piper of Hutzovina after taking a drunken car ride around Prague in 2004 with Eugene Hütz—the frontman of gypsy punk/hip-hop, New York-based band Gogol Bordello. Apparently she was so smitten by his boisterous but lively personality (not to mention his incredible sense of fashion), that making a film about him was the only excuse she could come up with to draw his attention and make him spend some time with her, hoping that he shared the same romantic interest towards her as she did for him.

To believe that Fleischer went into all that trouble, just so that Hütz would return her affections is somewhat far fetched. Yet, watching this documentary that takes us from London (where the director resides) and New York, to Kiev, Moscow, and Siberia where the successful band leader attempts to reconnect with his gypsy roots, one soon understands where Fleischer is coming from. Hütz has plenty of charm and charisma, and following him in his musical exchanges with gypsies who live in camps in Carpathia, and in meeting with his heroes, friends, and family, is truly an enjoyable experience.

Bella

Reviewer: Maria Komodore
Rating (out of 5): **

The subject of unwanted, or unplanned, pregnancy was quite a hot one for US and foreign films alike last year. But with the exception of Romanian Cristian Mungiu's abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007), all of the others, even if apolitical, have essentially been "pro-life."

In the U.S., in addition to Jason Reitman's indie hit Juno (2007), there was the late Adrienne Shelly's Waitress (2007), and of course Judd Apatow's supposedly comedic Knocked Up (2007). No matter how different in inception and presentation these films might be, they all have one thing in common: abortion is out of the question. The female leads decide to, respectively, keep their babies even if that means giving them up for adoption after they're born, bringing them up all by themselves, or settling down with an immature slacker.

Although made in 2006 and by a Mexican filmmaker, Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, the independent film Bella deals with the same subject matter and in a similar kind of way to the other films. Soon after she finds out that she's pregnant, Nina (Tammy Blanchard), a waitress in an upscale Mexican restaurant in New York, loses her job--a humiliating scene where her boss Manny (Manny Perez) fires her in front of her colleagues and friends. Jose (Eduardo Verástegui), the restaurant's cook and Manny's brother, is so affected by the incident that he deserts his kitchen in the midst of lunch-hour craziness, and starts following her around the city doing everything possible to persuade her to keep the baby. Turns out, before becoming a cook, Jose was a successful soccer player whose career got destroyed when he accidentally killed a little girl in a foolish car accident.

The Alain Delon Collection

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Diabolically Yours -- Rating (out of five): **½
Our Story: ****
The Gypsy: ***
The Swimming Pool: **
The Widow Couderc: ***½

I think you'd need to be well over your mid-century mark to rise to attention at the mention of Alain Delon. This mildly famous (in America, that is; in Europe he achieved blockbuster status) French star, who rose to international prominence on the coattails of great films such as Rene Clement's Plein Soleil (Purple Noon) and Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers, followed by The Leopard and Antonioni's L'Eclisse, was never much noted for his acting ability. Though he was a perfectly competent actor--sometimes much more than that--no matter what acting roles he or his directors or producers chose (he finally took over all three reins himself), nothing ever began to eclipse Delon's true ace in the hole: his amazing, downright staggering beauty.

That face--the body wasn't bad either--set hearts and lower extremities aflutter around the world. Delon also possessed a real charm, which he used in an interesting fashion from role to role--sometime more, sometimes less, often peeping out from under wraps, more often front and center. The charm seemed effortless, and it drew audiences to him as surely as has the charm of other popular actors from Gable and Grant to Clooney to DiCaprio. Yet none of these could match Delon for pure facial beauty. He was, for lack of a better comparison, the male Elizabeth Taylor. And as beautiful as he was, he still came across as a straight man--even when, in some of his film roles (Purple Noon, for instance) he played a bit toward bi- or pan-sexuality.

The Cats of Mirikitani

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****½

Until she made this extraordinary documentary debut in 2006 (at the Tribeca Film Fest), Linda Hattendorf had labored mostly as a film editor; her best-known work was probably on Josh Pais’ 7th Street and Danny Schechter’s In Debt We Trust. Then The Cats of Mirikitani [official site] was released to enormous critical acclaim, winning every one of the fifteen awards for which it was nominated at festivals worldwide. Still, it was not much seen by the general public. Its DVD release this month should slowly remedy that, especially with good word of mouth.

La Pointe Courte: Early French New Wave

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***½

There are those who feel that Agnes Varda's film La Pointe Courte represents the true birth of the French New Wave. After finally viewing this forgotten film (practically unseen by the world since its debut back in 1954), I would tend to agree. Every bit as ground-breaking as Truffaut's 400 Blows and Godard's Breathless, it has it's own measured pace and quiet inquiry--due, no doubt to its being made by a woman, and a woman as unusually gifted as Ms. Varda.

Blast of Silence

Reviewer: You (as played by Craig Phillips)
Rating (out of 5): ***½ (film); **** (DVD).

The lost noir classic Blast of Silence starts off a bit dubiously, with enough voice over narration to give Robert McKee an aneurysm after ten minutes, and even with some tedious moments early on, but wait, that scalding and scolding, pulp-ish voice over is in the second person, and the increasingly sleazy, realistic atmosphere begins to take hold of you, until you're fairly well rapt. You dig that nightclub scene, the same kind of scene you remember from older noir, but here the beatnik singer's playing bongos, and as the editing gets quicker in pace, and the tension mounts, you can't stop watching. Add to that character actors you've probably never seen before, even if you know the type -- the fat, shady gun smuggler who tries to play all the angles, the one with the collection of pet rats, and the slimy two-timing mobster with a heart of granite. Then there's the dame from the past, she fills a longing in your lonely heart, so much so you can't keep your mitts off her and she boots you out. You've got to focus on the gig at hand, bumping off a mobster, whom you grow to loathe more and more with each day. Everyone's against you, and there's only one thing you can do - pick off anyone in your path. You (as played by Allan Baron, director and co-screenwriter) ain't such a bad guy, but you've had some hard knocks in life. That's just life in the Big Apple, circa 1962.

You know you're a part of something when it feels like both the last "real" noir, a kiss of death to that movement as we knew it, while also one of the first true neo-realist American independents.

That's Blast of Silence, and thanks to Criterion, you're back.

And, as always in a Criterion joint, this little baby comes with some special gifts, most special being an engaging 60 minute documentary, "Requiem for a Killer: The Making of Blast of Silence", which was put together from a 1990 German film on the production. It's, well, a blast.

Up and Down

Reviewer: Maria Komodore
Rating (out of 5): ****

Old friends and compatriots Jan Hrebejk and Petr Jarchovsky have been making films together since 1999. Up and Down, which was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film in 2004, is the product of their forth (but not their last) collaboration.

Set in Prague, the film opens with petty crooks Goran (Zdenek Suchy) and Milan (Jan Budar) smuggling illegal immigrants into the Czech Republic when they get stuck with a little baby. Not knowing what to do with it, the two hoodlums take it to a fellow criminal who owns a pawnshop and who manages to sale the infant to Miluska (Natasha Burger). Miluska is a severely depressed sterile woman whose obsession with having a baby keeps feeding from her husband Franta's (Jiri Machacek) criminal record that prohibits him from adopting a child. But Hana (Ingrid Timkova), a financially comfortable woman who works for an immigration organization, is trying to find the baby and return it to its biological parents. In the mean time Hana's significant other Oto (veteran Czech actor Jan Triska) discovers that he has a brain tumor and decides to invite his boorish wife Vera (Emilia Vasaryova) and his expatriate son Martin (filmmaker Milos Forman's son Petr Forman), to a reconciliation dinner.

The Yacoubian Building: Egyptian "Blockbuster" Meets Western Audiences

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): **½ (up it a star if you're particularly interested in Egyptian culture)

What to make of the sensational (in themes and provenance, if not style and substance) Egyptian movie blockbuster The Yacoubian Building? Several things, actually, but let’s start with provenance and themes. Based on a groundbreaking, hugely popular Egyptian novel by Alaa' Al-Aswany that dealt with unusual subjects (for Egypt, at the time: it was published in 2002) such as homosexuality, adultery, drugs, corruption-in-high-places and the decline of Egyptian society, the novel seemed to have dragged Egyptian literary culture into the 20th Century. Of course, since much of the world is now well into the 21st, this is part of the problem that Westerners may have with the book--and its filmed version, which debuted around much of the world in 2006. (Here in NYC, it played at the '06 Tribeca Film Fest, but otherwise had not seen much U.S. action until its DVD release this year via Strand Releasing.)

Agnes Varda's Le Bonheur: Jim's take.

Both Erin Donovan and James Van Maanen volunteered to work their way through Criterion's recently released Agnes Varda collection. And while the odds are they'll more or less agree on the overall quality, each has their own unique takes on these films. We'll start with Le Bonheur (1965).

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of five) *****

Funny to call a movie a masterpiece when you're not really certain that you like it all that much. But I'm afraid Agnes Varda's Le Bonheur qualifies for just this adjective-overused as it may be-along with the caveat. I first saw the film, controversial upon its debut and even more so today, during its initial American release over 40 years ago. Revisiting it, I find it holds up even better than I remembered--possibly because I am older and, I hope, a bit wiser than I was in my 20s.

Agnes Varda's Le Bonheur: Erin's take.

Both Erin Donovan and James Van Maanen volunteered to work their way through Criterion's recently released Agnes Varda collection. And while the odds are they'll more or less agree on the overall quality, each has their own unique takes on these films. We'll start with Le Bonheur (1965).

Reviewer: Erin Donovan
Rating (out of 5): ****

Agnes Varda's third feature film examines the viability of monogamy in the age of free love and the search for happiness in a time of total unrest. Le Bonheur is similar in concept and cynicism to Jean Luc Godard's Pierrot Le Fou (both released in 1965, no less) but contains none of the bitterness of Pierrot. Varda's deep affection for each of her characters even as they make terrible choices that bring them to eventual doom makes a statement about sexual politics and the fleeting nature of human affection that feels modern even watching it forty-three years after it was made.

Pierrot Le Fou

Reviewer: Erin Donovan
Rating (out of 5): ***

Jean-Luc Godard's tenth film Pierrot Le Fou, one of the last he made before going full-tilt Marxist, has been restored and reissued in the extraordinary fashion we've all come to know and respect from Criterion. The Technicolor/Cinemascope print has been cleaned up from sad, past versions and a second disc of supplemental materials offers new insights into the film's genesis, production and lasting impact.

After attending a painfully buji party where the men only talk about cars and the women only talk about perfumes, Pierrot (Jean-Paul Belmondo) decides he's had enough of his wife, children and other middle class trappings. He runs off with Marianne (Anna Karina) his children's babysitter, with whom he had an affair years prior. They hit the road, fleeing a group of gangsters her brother had been involved with, take up in abandoned mansions by the riviera, begging for money from tourists and murdering anyone who gets in their way. Eventually romantic idealism gives way to monotonous expectation and obligation and Pierrot and Marianne break up, get back together, declare their love and hate for each other and eventually die.

Sharkwater

Reviewer: Craig Phillips
Rating (out of 5): ***

Rob Stewart's gorgeously shot, informative - and wistful - documentary Sharkwater is about that mysterious and fascinating, and, the film argues, the most misunderstood, of all sea animals. If the film sometimes gets a little choppy, the filmmaker's passion for the subject and the disturbing revelations to be gained from watching the film make it more than worthwhile.

The youthful Canadian underwater photographer and biologist Stewart, who quit his job to make this film, narrates and "stars," along with a host of sharks. Sharkwater begins with montage VO from old shark documentaries which include a hilariously misinformed bit of instruction from the Navy on scaring off sharks when in the water, followed by montage of media portrayals of shark attacks, adding to the fear factor. It "makes 'good television," says one frustrated shak researcher. But after initial, entertaining educational section of the film, it segues into a disturbing examination of how sharks are being illegally hunted - most often, and most cruelly, for their fins - as Stewart joins in with GreenPeace's Paul Watson, a fellow Canadian and one of the most passionate and renowned defender of marine life.

The Rabbit is Me: East Germany in the "Swinging" 60s

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***½

Confession: What induced me to queue up The Rabbit Is Me was the idea of an East German film that was initially banned and then not seen in public for 25 years. We never got than many East German movies over here to begin with, and since the fall of the "wall," we won’t be getting any more. The movie, as it turns out, is worth much more than just the curiosity factor. It holds up well, even without its "banned in East Berlin" notoriety.

In telling the story of a brother and sister separated by an overzealous judge, director Kurt Maetzig and writer Manfred Bieler (from his novel) see to it that all the details ring true, from the 60s time frame to life under a dictatorial government that was always trying to convince itself and its citizens of its higher nature, only to drown in hypocrisy. The movie shocks precisely by showing us that life with no sugar-coating. For a film this real to have come from the West would be surprising enough; from the East at this time it seems a sort of miracle. One wonders at how those connected with The Rabbit Is Me could have imagined that they would not be prosecuted. Yet at the time filming took place, the German Democratic Republic (yeah, right) appeared to be loosening up, allowing more freedom of expression, particularly in the arts. By the time of the film's release, however, things had clamped shut again, and everyone connected with this movie--and many others of that year (1965)--were in big trouble. Rabbit, however, was perceived as the worst of the lot (which I suppose could now be read as "best"), and over time all the banned films came to be collectively referred to as the "Rabbit" movies.